This Just In: BARC No Longer Part Of The Health & Human Services Department

​The Bureau of Animal Regulation and Control will be removed from the Health and Human Services Department, according to Frank Michel, the Mayor's communications director.

"We will be working to remove BARC from the Health Department over the next couple of weeks," Michel told Hair Balls in an e-mail. "The continuing issues have been a distraction for many of the good people of the Health Department who are doing excellent jobs on human health and other programs. It will allow us to work through the turnarounds process with more of a clean slate. The decision to move BARC does not preclude moving it back once the turnaround process is completed or has made significant progress."

Michel confirmed the change after Hair Balls asked him and other officials to confirm an e-mail that was sent this morning from Health and Human Services Director Stephen Williams. Rumors about the change had been circulating for a while -- when Hair Balls asked Michel on August 26 if BARC would be removed, he stated it was "just another rumor."

Such a move has been requested by BARC critics for a long time, but the city has stonewalled any efforts to make the change. Until today.